


Chaotix Network

by AnthroLover



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Crimes & Criminals, Detectives, Family, Gen, Internet, Mystery, Police
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-14 01:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11773068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthroLover/pseuds/AnthroLover
Summary: The Team Chaotix are one of the best detective teams in the city!Well, maybe not the best, neither the most famous... but they are good at what they do! Or... they try...Anyway, they just received a new case, and this one is different from all that they have seem up until now, for it is a cyber crime. Instead of following physical leads that will lead them to a bulky criminal, they will have to follow virtual footprints to be able to find some nerd with a computer.This surelly is different, but Team Chaotix accepts it right away when they hear about the good payment.Little do they know that they will be diving head first into a story that involves much more than the eye meet, and they will be dealing with cybernetics, hackers, crimes, conspiracy and very ambitious people.And, as if it was not enough, Vector will find out something that might, very well, shake the very foundations of his life forever...





	1. A Booming Start

The night was calm and peaceful into the city of Destroyd, into the world of Mobius.

Mobius was a world very much like ours, with a very different twist, instead of humans, it was inhabited by all kinds of anthropomorphic creatures. Hedgehogs, cats, dogs, wales, otters, birds, walrus, foxes, and all other kinds of creatures that had two legs and arms and walked and acted as human beings.

Destroyd was one big city, around 2 million habitants, and was a city that sparkled with life and all kinds of movements, from busy businessmen to the drunks that stumbled across the street. It was, an industrial city, with a lot of enterprises, and the biggest of them was the New Age Industries, an enterprise focused into technological advancement, what included the digital and computer programs. They were the biggest in this particular area, their building was the tallest and in the most important part of the city.

But this is moving way too fast to our history. We should start in other part of the city, a poorest one.

This block was one of the civil ones, with less luxurious houses and with a highest criminal occurrence. But this place was not bad, it was kind of nice, if you ignore the criminals wandering around, the gangs and the drug users in the street. But yet, it was a comfortable place, with accessible prices for living. Some even decided to start their business in there, like did a certain team of three members…

The sun was setting, and in that part many people were moving home, and there was no longer kids in the street, but many adults.

Inside an old building, an otter was watching tv. He had brown fur and black colored eyes, legs and two arms. He had long whiskers on his face and had a look of how was in his late forties. He wore a green colored jacket and had a hat of the same color over his head, he was busy watching the tv in front of him, when the sound of the "DING" called his attention.

He turned around to see another animal in front of him. This one was a younger lizard, an iguana. He was wearing blue ripped jacket and a blue cap over his head. He had emerald-green colored scales and yellow eyes, and he looked at the other with a joyful expression as he said "Yo, Otis! I have new watches on for sale, just 40 bucks each! They are Rolexes!"

The otter looked at him, and said "You have stolen them, Iggy?"

Iggy looked insulted for a moment "Oh, man, this is prejudice, only because I live around here you think I- yeah, they are stolen, but I'm only reselling I had nothing to do with that!" He admitted when the otter gave him a look, and the aquatic mammal only chuckled, and said "You are still gonna end up with troubles because of this 'business' of yours."

Iggy was one of the boys there in the block. He was still only 17 and yet he had already got in all kinds of problems. He had problems with authorities and had got arrested a few times, but was always released for being a minor. He never did anything big, he always was doing small tricks and picking up wallets from someone's pocket. But, despite his attitude and his rebellious behavior, he was actually a nice boy, and he wished the good for others, and you just needed to know him a bit to know he would never get into any serious crime. Though many in the block said he was one of the most likely to be arrested in the future for a big crime.

Otis, the otter, on other hand (pun not intended) was the guy who was happy were he was. He had been the doorman of the building since he was twenty, and now, twenty-eight years later, he was the kind of guy everyone in the block knew.

He was famous for helping people and for being nice with every, even the ones that didn't deserved. He was the kind of guy you wish to have on your side, he avoided most of the problems that happened in the block, but was willing to help anyone with problems.

He had thought about moving a few times, and he had money for it, but he got used to that place, and leaving and going to work in someone other place was just never going to be the same as that block was to him.

He a lot of friends, and had some affairs already, he even got married three times, and always divorced, his ex-wives were still into his neck after all those years.

Otis was friends with almost everyone in the block, and Iggy was one of those boys in the block who he kept friendship with. Even if a few times already he almost got into problem due to Iggy's schemes. He knew the iguana boy was a good boy, and was never going to put a friend on trouble on purpose. And yet, he did it.

"Have you already considered find a normal job?" Otis asked the iguana "Like delivering journal or working into a store?"

"Sometimes." Said Iggy "But they go away after a while. It must be deadly boring, and they don't give much money."

"But you would avoid the police." Said Otis with humor. He knew that Iggy disliked cops very much, he got in trouble almost every day, and he escaped by "technicalities". The iguana boy was good in working at the edge of the law, was one thing he had really gotten used to, but it was something that still could get him into a lot of problems if he wasn't careful enough.

Otis worried about it, for he knew that boy was nice under that bad boy appearance, and if they put him into a jail cell with some of that cruel guys that gutted innocents… Otis shuttered at thinking what would be done of the poor boy.

"Nah! There is no problem!" Iggy said with his regular go lucky way "I have a lot of people here to cover me! Including you and the Chaotix!"

Otis looked at him, and then said "Speaking of them." And he and Iggy could see three other animals walking inside.

The first of them was a tall crocodile. He was green colored on his body, with vermillion colored spikes running down his back to the tip of his long and strong tail, with light-lime-green for his chest. He was around 5'10" feet tall, and if you were to guess his weight, it would be around 200 pounds. He was wearing a pair of white gloves on his hands, with cylindrical black cuffs with orange strips and golden buckle fasteners around his wrists. Black shoulder pads adorned the place where his strong arms united with his torso, and on his feet there were black sneakers with white and orange trimming and white rubber soles. Around his thick neck, there was a golden heavy chain, and on his head, a pair of black and gray cordless headphones. This one was Vector, the crocodile, he was the leader of the detective team, Team Chaotix. He was known around for loving money and taking jobs which pay well, but he was also known for always helping those who needed without asking not a single penny in exchange.

Next to him was a chameleon with fuchsia-colored scales, with a yellow horn over his face, and some black colored spines on his back, with golden colored eyes. He had peach-yellow skin over his mouth and around it. He was wearing dark-purple boots with black accents on his feet, white colored gloves with violet pads over his hands and studded bands with golden button/bolts and bandages on his ankles and wrists. He was Espio, another member of Team Chaotix, and he was known n for being the silent and mysterious kind of guy. He was very skilled and very fast, and he was god throwing these ninja-stars-things, and he was good in sneaking and breaking into places. Most people mistrusted Espio, but there were a lot who thought he was a very interesting guy, especially the girls. There were some rumors about Espio having being trained as a ninja, rumors which Espio never confirmed nor denied.

And flying next to them, was the last and younger member of team Chaotix. It was a 2'3" feet tall bee, which was floating in the air next to them. The skin that was visible into his arms and into his mouth was peach-yellow, and he had black and yellow stripped fur over his body, and wings on his back, and his eyes were orange-amber colored. He wore white gloves with black cuffs, a black colored pilot's helmet with red trim and brown colored goggles on his head. He was also using an orange colored vest with the symbol of a bee in the chest and black shoulder pads and orange and white colored sneakers. He was Charmy, he was only six years old, but he was the last member of the Chaotix team. He was knew for being too innocent and for being the playful kind, but he was also the member of this detective team, and some say he was too young for this. Charmy, however, completed the team, and he was able to show dedication to work when he needed. The ones who lived near him, also could tell that he had an great admiration for his two older team-members.

The Chaotix were known for being a detective team that took almost any kind of job, as long as it paid well. Of course, they never wanted to do anything that was against the law. And also, they were knew for always helping the ones who really needed it, even when there was no money involved, like they did once when a young boy got lost from home, and like they usually did into the charity works. They were known for liking to help and for always lightening up the mood, in fact, while Espio usually stayed on his own, Vector and Charmy were famous for being the life and soul of every party, and for bringing it to wherever they went.

As they entered, however, Otis noticed that they were not into their usual happy mood. Well, you could expect that when they came back from a job that did not paid them well, but even then, they usually had a positive attitude, and came back usually with Vector complaining and Charmy already distracted with his child mind. But, this time, they had came back looking… depressed.

Vector's eyes were focused on the ground, his arms limp by his side as his head was downward, and he had what seemed to be a defeated expression on his face, which was very unlike him. Espio walked right by his side, his arms crossed over his chest and his face serious, what was normal for him, being the usually serious kind of guy, but, this time, he seemed to be somewhat more serious than normal. Even Charmy, who was usually so happy and easy going now was flying slowly, and he was looking to be sad, as much as Vector was.

Otis looked at them as they walked in, having noticed that they were down. Iggy, whoever, seemed not to have noticed, for he greeted them happily as they came near "Hey, guys!" he said, in a tone that was almost too happy "How it was the day?"

Vector, who was in the front, ignored him, and passed straight by him, walking slowly, as if he was deadly tired, and so did his team members. Iggy followed him, as he talked "Oh, bad day again, right? Well, I have something that may lighten your mood!" he said, showing them the watches he had "They are gold, and today they are for a special price!"

Vector ignored him, and he only kept walking in direction to the stairs, as if he could not even see Iggy. The iguana, however, was not going to simply accept being ignored, and he insisted "Not on the mood for watches? Well, I have other things too!"

He said and dug his hands into his bag and pulled out what seemed to be like a new cellphone "This one is the last model!" he announced happily, getting in front of Vector "It has a great memory! It play music, and it even access the internet!"

Vector growled, and he pushed Iggy out of his way and resumed walking. Otis noticed that Vector was starting to become grumpier, and many would take this as a sigh to stop and leave him alone.

Sadly, Iggy was not one of these.

"Oh, you don't like much these small things, do you?" he asked, and he barely even noticed that Vector was starting to clench his fists. "Well, I can find you some bigger ones. Maybe one of the tablets, ever heard of it? And maybe also one new computer, I have a friend that is sealing one of four 'teras', as he called it. He says that any hacker in the world would love to-"

But before he could finish, Vector spun around, facing him and shouting out "SHUT UP!"

Iggy was caught off guard, as well as Otis. It was very rare to see Vector lose the calm like that. It was clear by his expression that he was really pissed off about something, and it was really scary. Even Espio stopped for a moment, and Charmy yelped and hid behind the chameleon.

"I don't want any cellphone, or computer, or 'table' or whatever it is!" Vector nearly snarled at the iguana in front of him "I don't want to hear about any of these things, and I'm not in the mood for any trash you want to sell, so leave me alone!" he roared, and he turned around, stomping his ground as he walked in direction to the stairs, leaving a stunned iguana behind.

Otis also was surprised for seeing this outburst, for Vector normally was a very controlled kind of guy. It was not anything that made him blow up like, that.

Charmy whimpered as he was still hiding behind Espio, and the chameleon sighed as he continued forward, and looked at Iggy, and he said "Just leave Vector, okay?"

The iguana looked at him, as he continued "We just came back from a case and… it has been really hard for all of us." And with that said, he continued walking, right after Vector, and Charmy flew near him.

Iggy watched them leave for a few moments, and then, he walked back to Otis "Man, have you ever saw Vector like that?"

"Few times." Was Otis answer "He only gets like that if something really serious has happened."

Iggy looked over his shoulder, to see the Chaotix disappearing upstairs, indirection to their small apartment. "So, it was this case that made them be like that?" he asked to the otter "Was it really that bad?"

Otis looked at him, and shook his head "I don't know." He said simply "I usually don't get many details of their cases until they end, unless they are from around the neighborhood. But, I heard some details about it." He said, thinking about the situation "It had something to do with a crime with computers."

Iggy paled for a second, and Otis looked at him "Oh, don't worry, it has nothing to do with a computer being stolen." And Iggy breathed relieved "It was someone who _used_ a computer to commit a crime, or… 'virtual crime'… I didn't got this part very well." He said, and he looked at the iguana "I think it had something to do with a "hicker"."

"'Hacker'?" the iguana corrected, and Otis nodded "Yes, I think it was it! Some of these 'new age crimes' or whatever."

Iggy nodded. Wow, a crime with hackers? Well, that explained Vector's reaction when he mentioned them. That case must have really went south if it was to Vector having a humor like that. Iggy was only worried about the crocodile.

Otis was worried too. He was since he had heard that Vector had accepted a job like that. The crocodile, just like him, didn't knew much more about computers than to ask "control C" and "control V". Well, maybe Vector had been taking some classes about these computers lately, but Otis, on the other hand, never truly understood how these things actually worked. It was all a super complicated, technological mumbo-jumbo that to him seemed more like some short of wizardry. And that thing about "computer language", he never messes with this kind of thing, he was never good at it, and to him, it looked more like it was written in Greek.

Both animals shared a look, and Iggy said "You think he is going to be okay?"

Otis looked at the stairs one more time, remembering the expression with which Vector entered. "I guess so." He said, but deep inside, he was unsure, it made years that he didn't saw the crocodile with an expression like that. Actually, the whole week since they accepted that case was crazy, with all of the Chaotix, especially Vector, acting strange. "He already passed by hard things before, so, I guess he can pass by this more."

He looked at the iguana, and he said "Vector is strong, and I guess he will be fine. Lets just give him some days and he will brand new."

Otis really wanted to believe it, and so was Iggy. Both of them worried about Vector, who they had known for quite some time now. Iggy said then "Good to know! Hey, are you interested in some new wallet?"

Otis chuckled at this. Yeah, this was Iggy, he never lost a chance that was right in front of him. Soon the iguana was telling him about the new wallet he had, made out from fine leather and very soft in the inside. It was the main quality one, and it was surely expensive.

"Oh, this one is really good." The otter said to the younger iguana "Where did you got it?" he asked with a knowing smile, and this made Iggy go pale for a second. After a second, however, the smile returned from his features, and he said "Well, this one came from a very expensive store!"

"You bought it?" Otis asked, still with the knowing smile, and Iggy co0ntinued "Look, it is all made of leather, and it was handmade, and besides, it has a lot of internal spaces."

"Do you have the note of buying?"

"And it is a nice wallet! Look, it even come with a photo inside!" the iguana gestured to a picture that was inside the wallet, which showed a family that Otis had never seen in his life. "It must be one of these families of photo models! They put it on all wallets now, you kinow?" The iguana, but Otis was not going to buy it that easily. The otter sighed as anyone could come to conclusion that this wallet had been stolen. He could not help but get worried at Iggy. If the boy kept like that, he was surely going to get himself in trouble.

"Oh, Iggy." Said Otis to the younger iguana. Iggy just looked at him, and said "Oh, don't want wallets? So I have another thing for you." He was smiling as he pulled out something else, and it was a bag full of cellphones.

"These goes are the last models! I have a lot of the good marks! All of them as good as the ones in the stores in the center and only by half the price!" he said, showing off a new cellphone that was so thin that it could be confused with a piece of cut-off paperboard. And also, they didn't had buttons in them, only a big and wide screen.

"And where are the buttons?" asked Otis, and Iggy said, "Oh, they don't put buttons anymore! Now these new cellphones all had touchscreen, the options all appear in this screen that is sensible and answers to the touch. All you need to do is touch the icon or digital button with your finger, and you can do all the things that you do on a normal cellphone and even more! Also, this one has MP4 capacity, you can listen to music and watch movies in it! And it also access the internet!"

Otis shook his head. Now they had taken off the cellphone's buttons. As if these things weren't already complicated enough. And touchscreen? What else they were going to make up? As if the technology wasn't already complicated enough. They were always inventing something that seemed to be destined only to make it even more complicated. It was the progress? Well, they should at least known when to stop it. He was of the old age, and he could not learn how to use these new things as easily as the younger ones, like Iggy. Indeed, as time passed more and more, he felt more like a dinosaurs seeing a car for the first time each time that he saw one of these "new technologies". To be honest, he was just imagining if soon would come the day when the technology would be so advanced that he would need three diplomas only to know how to turn a doorknob. The world was changing, and it was changing too fast for his taste. Still, there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it.

"And it even has a camera!" Iggy continued about the cellphone. "You can take photos and make movies and post them straight on your social account!" he said, gesturing to the cellphone screen, and showing a lot of icons, most of them Otis didn't even knew what were.

"I don't have a social account, and you know that." Otis said with a smile to the iguana, who looked at him as if he was a being of another planet.

"You _still_ don't have one?" he asked, sounding shocked "Man, it was time for you to have one! These days you don't exist if you are not online!"

So, as if being old was not enough, it also seemed that, for the internet, he was never even born. He was feeling more and more out of place in this new world. He was from the old days, before the internet was so popular. Sure, it had already been invented on his time, but he was not too tuned into it as other people, and he did not kept up with all these innovations of "social account", "posts", "chats" and all these slangs in the net. Seriously, the first time he was shown one of those he felt like he was reading to something that was writen in Martian language.

"I can help you make one, if you want. And we can just makie it with the new cellphone you just bought!" he said suggestively, showing the device to Otis, as if to incentive him to buy it.

The other just sighed, and he said "Iggy, I don't buy stuff that I don't know the origins. I want to stay out of trouble, and you should do the same." He approached, and whispered "That is why you should stop selling these things from 'dubious sources'". He said, and for a moment, Iggy looked over his shoulder, and he smiled to Otis as he said "Sir, all of my products are obtained from pure and tot5ally legal means! Everything I do is totally under the law, and I only give my fellows from my neighborhood access to some very good equipment for a very accessible price! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!"

The iguana talked it rather loudly, and Otis knew that he, like many others, was afraid of having the police guys on his tail. Yeah, many guys in there were afraid of the police, for one or two smaller infractions, and Iggy was one of them.

Otis could only chuckle, as Iggy's actions only told the opposite. He knew that he was doing wrong things, and that he would be in trouble if he was found out. Otis only didn't understood why he did them anyway, if he knew they were going to give him trouble. "Relax, lizard boy." The otter said to him with a smile "There is no problem in here."

And relax Iggy did, and he even showed him another thing he was carrying, and it seemed to be a ring made of gold and diamond.

"I swear to you, Otis, if you give one of these to a girl them she will eat at your palm like a birdie. I mean, if she is not already one." He said with a wink, and Otis couldn't help but chuckle. He was too old for dating now, and he just didn't found a nice girl, still, he showed a little interest in the article that was being offered to him. It was indeed beautiful, and it looked to be _really_ expensive. And this made Otis worry more for the iguana, for he knew that the expensive things always brought far more trouble.

"I'm not sure, Iggy." Said Otis "I don't really have a girlfriend."

"You could get one through these!" said the iguana, smiling at the otter "I'm telling you, they do _anything_ for a jewel like that. Just give one and they will threw themselves in your arms!"

Otis chuckled, barely even believing it. He knew that girls loved gems, but he also knew by his own experience that just because a jewel was pretty didn't meant that a girl would do anything you asked her for. He had already tried it when he was younger and he received a lot of slaps on his face a good reminders of it.

"What, you doubt?" said Iggy "Well, just buy it and give to a girl! You will see! She will fall at your feet! When she see the size of that diamond, it is a real diamond, as you can see, it will literally _blow_ her mind!"

As soon as these words left Iggy's lips…

_BOOM_

The whole building shook as the loud sound of an explosion was heard. Both Otis and Iggy immediately ducked to the ground for cover.

Outside, in the street, everybody who was out also ducked for cover when they heard the sound of a loud explosion. Followed by failing debris coming from the third floor of the small building, from which was already raising smoke from the windows. Soon people were running away and screaming, trying to get to safety, or to at least understand what had just happened. Soon, they were noticing that the explosion had just came from the third floor, and only from an specific set of windows. In other words, it had come from a very specific apartment.

Back in the entrance hall, Iggy had his own hands over his head, as if to cover himself, as he screamed "I surrender! Please, don't shot!"

Otis was a bit shaken, and he trembled as he got back up, and he looked around, seeing the iguana on the floor. And it wasn't long until he saw people, the ones who lived in the building, hurry up from the outside.

"H-hey! Wait. W-what happened?" he asked, but most people rushed past him and past Iggy, who was till on the ground, and rushed to the outside. The iguana was soon noticing that there was no immeidate danger, and so he was starting to get up.

"Wait! What happened?" said Otis again, and one of the residents, an duck, stopped and looked at him "There was an explosion in the third floor!"

Otis looked at him shocked, and Iggy soon said "Third floor? Wait, isn't it where the Chaotix have their office?"

Otis palled in horror, and he hurried to out of his cabinet, and he started passing at the passing residents, asking all of them if they had seen the Chaotix. Most people ignored him and they kept rushing outwards, aiming only to get out of the place where it had an explosion, and where probably was going to have a fire in just a few minutes, for in that place, explosions were almost always followed soon after by a fire. Only three or four people actually stopped to talk to Otis, and all of them only said that they had not seen Team Chaotix.

Otis was starting to grow really worried as he could not have a single clue of the team of detectives. That was when Iggy, who stayed by his side, said, "Look, there they are!"

Otis followed his finger, and he saw them walking down the stairs. They were covered in dust, and they all looked shaken, save for Espio, who was stoic as ebvern, however, even he seemed to be worried.

Espio and Charmy were supporting Vector, who seemed the most shaken of them all, for he needed their help to keep walking. Iggy an Otis immediately rushed to them, and asked what had happened. However, the Chaotix didn't answered just yet, they were more worried into guiding Vector to the outside, where it was safe.

Otis and Iggy both helped the chameleon and bee to guide their croc leader to outside of the building, and they were met by a crowd of curious who were pointing at the place in the third floor, which Otis quickly could make out as the Chaotix apartment, the place where stayed their quarters and their office.

"Oh, man." Iggy said as he looked up. He then looked at the Chaotix "Guys, I'm sorry to say that, but I think that your place is kind of destroyed."

However, the Chaotix barely gave him attention, they only sat in the sidewalk, with Charmy holding tightly at Vector, and Espio was still supporting him, helping him take deep breaths and calm down. Otis looked at the apartment, and he wondered just what could have happened.

He thought of asking the Chaotix, but they had only barely arrived, and they seemed all to be shaken. He decided that it was better to let them recover before asking them anything. He would let them recover, after all, they just lost their apartment, and maybe they had even almost lost their lives.

Minutes passed, and soon the police and the firefighters were arriving at the place, and they were entering the building to try and see just what had happened, as well as talking to the residents of the building, who mostly wanted to know if there was a danger, and if it was safe to return to their houses.

Otis knew that soon they were going to come to the Chaotix, and that they would be the center of all of it, as soon as everyone realized that it was their apartment that explode. Otis approached, and he kneeled by their side, they were still looking all shaken, but they all seemed to be a little better. Actually, they even seemed to be talking.

They were discussing something in secret, and they looked over their own shoulders all the time as if they were having a kind of conversation that they wanted no one else to hear. Otis foundit unlikely that they were all in secrecy right now, and he approached them, but before he could hear anything, Espio turned to him, and he said "Otis, someone came here when we were gone?"

"Huh?" Otis said, not getting the sudden interrogation. Espio's face was serious, as well as his voice tone. Well, he was always serious, but now it was more than normal.

"Someone came when we were out?" Espio repeated the question, with more urgency.

Otis was a bit taken back, but he made an effort to answer "W-well, it is a building, and people go in and out all the time. Why?"

"Did someone suspect entered in the building while we were out?"

Otis looked at him, and choose his next words carefully before he spoke "Espio, you will have to define better the word 'suspect', considering our regular neighborhood." The chameleon took a few deep breaths, and he asked again "I'm talking about someone who didn't seemed to be from the area, someone who was a strange. Someone who might have got up the stairs and went to our office."

"Wait, you think someone did this?" asked Otis. He found it hard to believe. The Chaotix could to be the dearest people of town, but they were really nice. They had very little enemies, and none of them would go to the point of exploding their office. It was really strange to think that someone would try to do that to them. And also, the idea of someone might be able to do that only to hit them, it somehow gave him creeps. Who would be so violent and also so cruel?

"Otis!" Espio said, making the otter look at him, and Otis soon was trying to focus to remember. And then, it came at him. "Actually, there was someone who came earlier, while you were out. There should be five or six of them, and they all were wearing balck clothes and sunglasses."

Espio's eyes widened when he heard that. And so did Vector and Charmy's. "It were them?" asked the young bee, and Otis didn't knew how to answer, for he had no idea of who "them" would be.

But it was Vector who stepped forward, almost pushing Espio out of his way as he went to Otis. "One of them was a big bull?"

"What?"

"A bull!" Vector alsmot shouted at him, grabbing him by the shoulders "Big, who lives in the academy, tall! He has brown fur and one of his horns is broken! He talks like some actor from an action movie about to make a triumphant entrance!"

Otis looked at him, blinking a bit shocked by this reaction from the big crocodile. However, he soon was able to recover, and he said "Y-yes… Indeed, there was one of them who was _exactly_ as you described. Actually, he seemed to be their boss… Vector?"

The color was draining from Vectors face as he let go of Otis, and gave a step back. "It were them." The crocodile said, more to himself than to anyone else. Espio then said, "They are tying the loose ends."

"What? Who?" Otis asked, but he was ignored, and Vector suddenly raised his head, a look of pure horror on his face, as he said "Argyle… they will go after him!" and he suddenly was running, almost making Otis fall to the ground.

"H-hey!" Otis said, still too shocked with all that was happening. He really had _never_ saw Vector acting like that! "W-what is..?"

Espio was the next, and he said "No time for explanations! If someone come asking for us you tell you have no idea where we went! And don't trust these people no matter what happens!" And he went right after Vector, leaving Otis even more confused and stunned.

"W-wha… what is… what is going on!?"

"No time to explain!" Charmy cried out as he practically held Otis by the shoulder just like Vector had done, and he even shook him "We gotta go now! They are going after Argyle!" and with that said, he went flying like a bullet after the other two, leaving behind a totally shaken and lost Otis.

In that moment, as he watched the three members of Chaotix Team walk away, to go only God knows where, Otis was only able to mutter the only thing that came in his mind at that moment:

"Who is Argyle?"


	2. The Offer that Started It All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We now go back in time one week to see how it this story trully began...

_One week earlier…_

“How booooooring…” Charmy said as the bee Mobian floated around. There were very little things to do into that small apartment/office. The place consisted into only four rooms: a bathroom, two bedrooms (one that the adults shared while the younger one had one only for himself), and a living room/dining room/kitchen. They didn’t had a tv (well, they had it, but it was broken, and they still lacked the money to fix it), and there were little books in the place. Charmy had already read all of the comic books he had, and now he was in the power of boredom.

In the same room, Espio was sitting into the ground into lotus position, with his hands resting on his knees and in the classic position to meditation. His breath was steady as he tried to use it to help him relax and focus his attention, so he could train himself, and even use it to pass time. It was really effective for all of these goals, but it was hard to actually focus with Charmy complaining due to the boredom. But truth was that Espio could not really blame him.

“Yes, things had been really slow lately.” Espio said, as his eyes were still close and he was still focusing into the closest thing he could of a meditation. “We haven’t had any clients. That worries me.”

That was truth, usually they would have at least one or two clients per week, and they would pay only enough for them to live their lives. They would usually have enough to pay for their rent, for their bills, and for their food, and occasionally some small luxuries.

Still, in the past ten days, they hadn’t had a single client. Their current earnings were very low, and that was something that worried Espio, who was usually impossible to shake.

“Our money is low since the event of two days ago.” Espio said aloud as he continued to focus, and he added, “What do you think of that, Vector?”

There was only the sound of the outsides of their apartment, and the buzzing of Charmy’s wings. Not an answer to his question.

“Vector?” Espio said, opening one eye and looking over his shoulder in direction to the crocodile.

Vector was on his usual spot on his office table, reclined in his chair and with his feet into it. He had his headphones into his ears (or earholes, if you preferred to call them that), with one end of their plug connected to a stereo, which was clearly on, despite not emitting any sound. Vector had his eyes closed and his head was bobbing in the rhythm of a music as the crocodile was humming along with the song.

Espio sighed, his head dropping to the ground, and he shook it slightly. He raised his head again, his eyes closed, and took a deep breath before exhaling, and then, with a move of his body, gracious and yet very efficient, he made a back flip that covered the whole room.

Charmy let out a surprised yelp as the chameleon crossed his way into the air, before landing into the office table nearly without making sound.

Vector continued what he was doing, with his eyes closed, oblivious to Espio, who looked at him. At least until Espio pulled one of the phones out of his earholes, and he nearly screamed, “Are you even listening!?”

“GAH!” Vector screamed in surprise as he fell of his chair and into his butt in the ground, his headphones staying up in the air, before they fell into his head, making him let out an “OUCH!”

Vector took a few seconds to recover, getting up and looking at the chameleon, with his headphones now positioned into his neck, as he looked at him with a not amused expression. “Why do you always do that?”

Espio ignored the question, for he already had answered it many times in the past, and still, it seemed to have no effect into the crocodile, who continued to do so. Instead, he said, “Vector, we don’t have a client in days, and I’m getting worried about it.”

Vector looked at him, as Espio continued, “We already used a lot of money to pay for the damages that we caused into that incident two days ago, and this morning the money was barely enough to buy food. In a little more than a week, we will have to pay rent, and I don’t think that the money we have will be enough to pay. We have to find another case to solve, and one that pays well, otherwise, we might need to find another place to live.”

Vector looked over at Espio, still rubbing his backside, and he knew that the chameleon was right. They had been into a dry season of cases lately. It seemed that less people were coming to them these days, and now this was being feel into their pockets. Eight days from there was going to be the day to pay rent, and unless they handed to their landlord all of the money for rent, they were going be kicked out with the little belongings they had and they would have to search for another place to live. The fact they wouldn’t have an office, by itself, was going to make it even harder for them to find some suitable case.

They were surely into difficulties, and Vector knew it well.

However, the crocodile only sighed as he sat back on the desk, and he looked at the chameleon, and he simply raised his arms to the sides, as if to signal at the room. “And what exactly do you expect me to do? To do some mumbo jumbo and bring forth clients to us?”

Espio looked at him, and Vector continued, “I might be a little alligator by my mother’s side, but I’m not good in that whole voodoo thing. Still, I guess I could give it a try, you just need you to find me a few chickens, an altar, and a few black candles.”

Espio rolled his eyes, and he said, “Vector, I’m serious, we need more clients.”

“I’m serious too, Espio!” Vector said, and he added, “What, do you think that I don’t care that we will have to be homeless? Of course I do! But there is nothing I can do! The clients are not coming, well, that is it! We can’t just force them to come! We are not very famous, and there are many more detective agencies into the city, these guys are stealing our clients! There is really nothing to be done about that!”

With this said, Vector laid back on the chair, with his arms behind his head resting it, while Espio looked at him.

The chameleon hated to admit it, but that was one of the cases in which Vector as completely right.

The Chaotix, as their team was known by nearly everyone in town (well, everyone who heard of them), were not exactly the best detective agency around, in fact, there were many other detective agencies around, many of them with a rate of success bigger than the Chaotix Detective Agency. Some of them actually were on their very same city block, and they actually could make a better advertising than the Chaotix, and they were stealing some of their best clients.

There was very little that the Chaotix could do about this, once they had no right or way of preventing other detective agencies from running their business, and neither they could invest into advertising or some better equipment for running their business, once they barely had enough money to pay for their current bills.

Still, Espio could not avoid thinking that they maybe could find a way to solve this situation if they actually put their gear in action and got into work. This was due to his own past and personality, once being so much time without doing anything and without doing anything that would be productive, started to make him feel useless, and that was something that Espio was not as good as dealing with as his leader.

Sighing, he got down from the table, as Vector put his headphones back on, and continued to hear his music, seemingly without any kind of worry due to their current monetary situation. However, that confident and worriless front hid the fact that Vector indeed _was_ deeply worried about their current situation.

They had already to start rationing food in order to save it and to save the money that they could use the next meal. Not to mention that pretty soon they were going to have to pay rent, and if they didn’t, they would be kicked out and they would have to find another place to stay. The idea of being left homeless was something that made Vector disturbed, especially considering that it was very likely that little Charmy was going to end up with them.

It had been very hard for Vector and Espio to be able to raise Charmy on their own. The young bee having been an interesting addition to the lives of the two single detectives ever since their first meeting. It had been a difficult adaptation, but they managed to be able to create an ambient that was stable enough for the young bee to be able to live with them in their house, and even to be a part of their detective team.

The idea of having to take the bee with them to the streets in order to be able to search for another place to live into, was something that disturbed Vector deeply. Both because of the future of the young bee, as because this could very well give some other animals the reasons to go into the justice and force the young bee to go to some orphanage in order to give him to a more stable home.

Well, what there was to say? Vector had grew attached to that small, hyperactive bee, and so did Espio, even though the chameleon didn’t quite demonstrate it openly.

“Well, I guess we can only wait.” Vector said, shrugging as he reclined back on his chair. “We relax and try to occupy our minds, maybe find something fun to do. Maybe the next job will just knock on our doors when we last expect.”

Just as Vector finished saying these words, there was a knock in the door.

The crocodile and chameleon both shared a look as they looked at the door.

Espio was the one who got off the table and walked to it, and answered the door. His expression turned into one of annoyance, as he said: “Oh, it is you.”

Yeah, he knew the one who was on the other end of the door. Standing there, was a rhinoceros with a dark-grey coloration on his body and an ivory horn in his snout. He was wearing a clothing that consisted into a leather jacket over his body with designs of flame, and a pair of boots, also made of leather, this one from a reptile, and he also had two chains, one around his neck, as a collar, and other around his waist, as a belt. His big and strong arms were cross in front of his chest, while he had a harsh expression on his crimson eyes.

“Do you have my money yet?” The rhino said, walking past the chameleon and into the office/house of the Chaotix team without being invited and seemingly not caring what the others would say.

“Good morning to you too, Mike.” Vector said, and his expression was annoyed, much like Espio’s.

“Good morning, Mister Mike.” Charmy said, polite and charming as always, but Mike, the rhino, seemed not to care about that.

“I want my money! The money that you three own me after what happened two days ago!” The rhino said, pointing at each one of them accusingly as he spoke.

The members of the Chaotix could only roll their eyes at the rhino, as Espio was the one to speak. “We don’t have money, Mike.” He got the rhino’s attention as he said that, “We have been facing troubles lately.”

“You and half of this neighborhood, me included!” The rhino shot back at him. “Still, I pay all of my debts, and so should you! I want the money to pay back the things that you wrecked!”

“We didn’t ‘wrecked’ anything.” Vector said, “Stop being dramatic.”

“My sofa was in so much pieces that they could have used it as confetti!” The rhino shot back.

He was being dramatic, and everyone in there knew it. Still, they had to admit that the sofa was not in a very nice state after that incident.

“We didn’t mean to do it.” Charmy said, “It was an accident.”

“Still you did it! And the police officers agreed that it was your fault!”

“They also agreed that it was fault of the guy who thought it was a good idea to put a lawn mower in the middle of the street!” Vector shot back at him, “And you came to us instead of going to that jerk on the other side of the street! Come on Mike, admit it, you just don’t like us, and you are loving to have a chance to get money out of us!”

Mike snorted at him. He was bigger than Vector by around one and a half feet, and he was muscled, but still it did not intimidated Vector in the slightest, who continued to look at him with anger on his eyes. It was no secret that Mike had trouble with the Chaotix ever since they had lived and worked in that neighborhood, and that the rhino seemed to actually like to cause them problem.

“You have exactly seven days, starting right now, to pay back the money for my damage.” The rhino said, reaching out for something into his jacket, and pulling out a piece of paper. “It is all here.” He said as he slammed it into Vector’s table. “If you don’t pay, you will hear from me.” He said, and he walked out the door, with Espio closing it right behind him.

“Why is he so mean?” Charmy asked, and Vector fought the urge to give at least twenty-seven different answers, due to not wanting Charmy to learn anything that was inappropriate. Instead, Vector only picked up the paper in which Mike had wrote down what they “owned” him.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” Vector said as he looked at it. “There is no way that the old rug he had costed so much! That thing was a piece of old cloth! And he never even had a sound equipment! All he had was an old phonograph that my grandmother would have not wanted!”

Espio sighed, as he already knew the drill. Mike was a wall of muscle, but he was too coward to come and face someone in a brawl unless they were much smaller and weaker than him. Of course, it was not the case of Vector and neither Espio, once they both could put that rhino on his place in less than five minutes, each one on their own way. Still, he was able to make some noise when there was the need, especially in cases like that.

Now, however, the situation was one in which he could prove to people that he had suffered some loss in money because of them, and this gave him a legal right to be able to take money from them. This was a situation that he surely loved it.

“‘Emotional stress’!?” Vector said aloud as he continued to read the bill that Mike had gave them. “What emotional stress!? The guy was asleep when it all happened! And it wasn’t even on his own house! He just want to get as much from us as he possibly can!”

“And he probably will.” Espio said, “He can actually prove that we destroy his property, there are witnesses, you remember?”

Vector growled, tossing the paper on his desk as he reclined. “That lowlife, he could at least give us a little break. Why he has such a great problem with us?”

“Maybe because you dated his girlfriend for two days after we moved in, and she dumped him because of you.” Espio said, “And there is also the fact that she didn’t wanted to go back at him after you both broke up.”

“Bah, I just made her realize that she deserved better than that guy.” Vector said as he reclined. “He can’t blame me that the girl finally developed self-esteem and decided to go find herself a real man. Even if this one was not me.”

Espio sighed, and he picked the list that was Mike’s bill. He eyed him, and he could already say that the combine value of everything would result in almost twice the value of their rent. Yeah, Mike was definitely trying to gain as much as he could from this situation; Espio had to agree with his crocodile friend in that.

However, this did not changed the fact that they had to pay it if they wanted to avoid more trouble. They needed a new job. And the needed it fast.

Another knocking on the door.

Vector groaned loudly as the door was knocked. “Great heavens, what does he wants now!?” Vector got up and walked in direction to the door.

“What!? You dumb bag of muscles?” He called out as he walked. “Have you forgotten to add the price of that golden stick up your-”

Vector was about to say something that Charmy was not supposed to hear, but luckily, he stopped on his tracks when he opened the door and gave a good look on the Mobian that was standing on the other side. This one was not Mike, the rhino, of that much Vector surely knew.

This one was a little smaller, and had much less muscle. He was covered in feathers of brown and black feathers, and he had red crests both in his head and in the lower part of his beak. His eyes were of a green coloration. He was wearing a white suit on his body, with a golden watch around his left wrist, and his talons on the feet were covered in black bandages, that were supposed to take the place of his shoes, which most Mobians usually wore as a covering in the feet. In his face, balanced in the beak, the rooster Mobian had a pair of glasses which lenses actually seemed like magnifying glass.

Vector looked down at the avian in front of him, and after a few moments, he asked: “Who the heck are you?”

“Is this the office of the ‘Chaotix Detective Agency’?” He asked in a nasalize voice.

“Yes, it is.” Vector answered.

“May I come in?” He asked again, and he didn’t even wait for Vector to answer to snake his way inside by passing under the arm of the crocodile.

“Hey!” Vector said, as the other two member of his team looked at the newcomer, who was carrying something under his arm as he looked around, and he soon was walking in direction to Vector’s desk, without caring to ask for permission or even to talk to the ones around him.

“Oh, who is this?” Charmy asked, while Espio looked at the newcomer with a raised eyebrow.

The rooster placed what he was carrying in the desk and opened it, revealing it to be a laptop. Or something very similar to it. He pressed a button, and the portable computer started to turn on.

“Okay, you have five seconds to say who you are and why are you breaking into our office!” Vector said to him, being clearly pissed that someone was barging in their house without being invited.

The rooster turned to him and he said: “My name is Roosty Chickson. I’m here in name of the Network Age Company.”

“Network Age?” Vector asked, “Wait, it isn’t the guys who make computers and other electronic things?”

“Network Age Company is currently one of the most important and influent organizations in the industry of the computer and programming in the country, with a current annual budget of ten digits.” The rooster said, as if he was repeating something from an information letter, his nasalize voice was adding to make it seem like he was one of those people in the tours who gave information.

“Yeah, these guys.” Vector said. “What do they want with us? Are you selling their things from door to door? Because this is the case just you know that we don’t have money to buy anything. We are in a lot of problems now, and the last thing we want is to have to deal with someone coming to our door wanting to sell-”

“They want to hire your services.” The rooster said, interrupting Vector and making a silence fall into the room for a few seconds, as the members of the Chaotix absorbed what had just been said.

“Excuse me?” Vector asked, still looking at him.

“Network Age Company is in a situation that requires the work of a detective agency. The Chaotix Detective Agency has been select to pay these services.” The rooster said, in a monotone tone. “You see, I’m not here to sell anything. I’m here to tell you that the agency that I work for want to hire you.”

There was another silence after that, and after a while, Charmy said:

“Y-you mean… we have a job?”

“Well, yes, if you-” The rooster started to say, but he was interrupted when Vector suddenly lunged at him and started to carry him on his arm.

“Why didn’t you said so!?” The crocodile said in a rush as he carried him to the chair and landed him in there. “Here! Make yourself at home! Do you want anything? Some coffee? Some biscuits? I’m pretty sure we have some! Espio! Start making some darn coffee!” Vector had a big fake smile on his face as he talked to a possible client, the first one they had in days, and in a moment when they really needed.

“We have a job!” Charmy said, celebrating as he flew around. “We have a job! An actual job! And the clients are rich!”

Espio was the only one who was absolutely calm with the situation, and he looked at the rooster, who seemed a bit stunned for having been suddenly picked up and carried from the ground and into a chair. Espio was far more composed than the other two, and he only looked at the rooster with the same kind of mistrust that he did with everyone who he had just met, a result of his years of training and of living on his own before joining the Team Chaotix.

“I-I…” The rooster said, as he tied to recover. “I… want nothing… I just came here to give the message. I guess that Mr. Lioner can give you more information about the job.”

“Lioner?” Espio asked, and the rooster looked at him and said:

“The CEO of Network Age Company. He is the owner of absolutely everything, and he is the one who is actually hiring your services.”

“Oh, that is great!” Vector said, “So, when he is coming?”

“I’m already here.” Said a new voice. “Well, not exactly.”

The Chaotix all stopped what they were doing, and looked around in the search of the source of that new voice.

“Who said that?” Vector asked and Espio was in all attention as he searched for the voice that wasn’t there.

“The name is Lioner, CEO and founder of the Network Age Company.”

“Why can’t we see you?” Charmy asked as he flew around, looking to all sides. He let out a small gasp. “Are you invisible? That is so cool!”

“Ahem… If you could all take a look at the laptop…” the voice said, and the members of the Team Chaotix finally realized that the sound was coming of the laptop on the table.

Gathering on it, they looked at the screen, to look at a lion that was appearing in there. The Mobian lion was wearing a very expansive navy-blue suit with a red tie around his neck, with a very busy and imposing dark mane around his neck and head. His eyes were golden colored, and the soft-sand coloration of his face helped make it pop, and he had a few whiskers on his face, decorating his maw, which was filled with sharp-looking fangs. He had a smile on his face as he looked back at the three other Mobians who looked back at him.

“So, this is the Chaotix, huh?” He asked as he looked at the Mobians who looked at him through the screen. “Not bad.” He said with a smile.

“Huhh, thank you?” Vector asked, a bit unsure about talking with someone through the screen of a computer. “Sorry, we are more used to talk to our clients in person.” The crocodile said, apologizing for the momentary awkwardness.

“Well, I would go in there in person if I could, but I’m a very busy Mobian.” The lion said with a smile. “So busy that I can’t afford to leave my office in the middle of the day, you will have to excuse me, but this is necessary.”

“Oh… right.” Vector said.

“So, I’m going to be as direct and clear as possible, because that is how I deal with all of my business.” The lion said, “I recently have passed by something that forces me to hire the services of a detective agency that has good skills in investigation and a very good deal of discretion, do you fit in this description, or did I contacted the wrong Mobians?”

“Oh, you came to the _right_ Mobians!” Vector said. “We have solved every case that was presented to us ever since our inauguration!”

“And we have a lot of discretion!” Charmy said with a smile on his face, and he added right after. “And if we have missing, we can find some more!”

Vector slapped his face with his hand, and Espio only sighed as he shook his head slowly.

“Well, I guess that you will do the job.” The lion said.

“And, what would that job be?” Espio asked. “I’m sorry, but we tend to know what we are dealing with before we take on a job.”

“I see.” The lion said, and he then continued to say: “Two nights ago, there was an invasion in my company, and things were stolen. I’d like you to find who did this and to bring what was stolen back.”

“Oh, that is not that hard.” Vector said, “We can do that in one day, two tops!” He said, already looking forward to that. “Now, who we will be chasing? Elephant? Hyena? Cobra?”

“We don’t know.” The lion said, “We have no idea of the identity of this Mobian.”

“They avoided the security cameras?” Espio asked, “You have security cameras, right?”

“In this case, the thief was never actually here. Not physically, anyways.” The lion said, and this made the members of the Chaotix look at him.

“Okay, you will have to explain it better…” Vector said, and the lion complied by explaining:

“We are not talking about a case of breaking in and entering in the traditional sense.” The lion had a serious expression on his face as he explained that. “My company has the greatest development of computer and cybernetic area of the country, so it makes sense that we would make a use of it in our industry. Our computers and our own private network contains many things that are more important to us than most of our physical safes could possibly have.”

“Now, what happened was that someone has managed to hack into our system and download something from our servers. This is the kind of robbery that we can be talking about.”

There was a silence after these words, and after a while, Vector said:

“Well… I’m not sure what you want us to do in relation to this… I mean, we don’t really know much about these computer things. I owned one a time ago, but I had to sell it…”

“This is not the case of following the digital footprints.” The lion said, and he explained: “We already have a team that did this, however, we only managed to find a computer in a cyber café, and we have no real clues of who used it and why. It seems that after making the download the responsible went analogic. From that point on, we lost our ability to track them.”

The lion looked at the other three troughs the laptop, and he continued: “That is where you come in, my friends. We want you to continue from where we stopped, so you can find the one responsible and recover what was stolen from our company.”

The Chaotix shared looks, and Espio asked: “And, what exactly was stolen?”

The lion looked at them, as if evaluating, and he sighed, before speaking, resting his chin on his hands. “Due to our kind of job, our enterprise deals with a whole lots of deals, what vary from everyday enterprises and deals to military agencies. Naturally, due to this, the ones who we make deals with have to trust to us sensitive information that we use to attend to their demands and to direct our work. This hacker has downloaded a great deal of information that our clients have gave us. Basically, a great list of projects and of personal information of the clients who requested and who helped to develop this.”

“Information like…?” Espio asked, and Vector gave him a glare, as if he was going to scare the client away if he continued to do that.

The lion, however, seemed to be willing to share information, even though he was becoming uncomfortable with it. “Information like, the specifications of the dimensions of the projects, the kinds of functions they will have to be able to make. Kinds of things that can led the ones who read them to deduce information that the client might want to keep private. This kind of information, does that help you?”

“Who would steal something like that?” Charmy asked, being the impulsive kid that he was, and the lion answered:

“The list is quite big. It could be some of our rivals wanting to get ahead of us in competition, or maybe some criminal who wants to gain money over this kind of information.” The lion took a moment to stop, and he sighed, before looking at them, “Of course, we could not put aside the possibility of their intentions being darker. Some of the information that they stole is so sensitive that it would actually be considered as a matter of national security.”

This actually made the Chaotix stop and trade looks. They had dealt with some shady subjects in their history as detectives, but national security?

“If this is the case, why not go to the authorities?” Espio asked, “Surely they would offer help if you explained this to them.”

“The matter is-” The lion said, taking a deep breath, as if to keep his composure. “The matter is that this information was given to use by clients who are important, and they expected us to keep it safe and private due to contract. Now, this information has been stolen from us.”

“If the guys who trusted them to you find out that you let it be stolen then they will not be happy.” Vector concluded.

“That is the reason why we cannot go straight to the authorities with this.” The lion continued to explain to them. “We want to avoid bad publicity. So, we resorted to a service of detectives that can find the responsible and the stolen information and bring it back safely.”

“So, you can pretend that it was never stolen.” Espio said, and the lion locked eyes with him.

“Yes… that is correct.” He said, and after a few moments, he talked to the rest of the team again. “So, do you accept the job?”

“Not before one last question.” Vector said, and he looked at the lion as he spoke that. The lion perked and looked at him as the crocodile got ready to ask his question:

“How much are you gonna pay for this?”

The lion looked back at him, and the crocodile continued:

“I mean, you are asking something pretty big of us, and we cannot do something like that for free. I mean, there is a lot involved, the price got to be right.” The crocodile said, and he had a small smile on his face as he said these words.

The lion looked at him for a few moments, and he was actually able to chuckle at this.

“Yes, I assumed so.” The lion said, “Of course, I’m asking you to do something that could actually be considered a personal favor, and sure, this means that I have to reward you properly for this. So, I have been tracking the price you usually charge for your assignments, so, I was wondering, would ten times this value be a reasonable offer?”

If they were cartoon characters, Vector and Charmy’s eyes would have turned into dollar signs upon hearing that. Espio, however, was still stoic, and he actually looked at the lion with a raised eyebrow. The lion, however, either didn’t noticed or didn’t gave it any importance, for he was still looking at the leader of the team.

“So, you accept?”

“You betcha!” Vector said, “Don’t worry, we will get this guy and you will have your… information back to you in no time! And no one will ever know a thing!”

The lion smiled a toothy smile at the crocodile. “Good. Chickson will give you the information that you need to start investigating. I he will be the contact between you three and the company, and I hope to have an update soon. Good luck.” The lion said, and made a gesture as if he was pressing a button on his own laptop, and the image went black.

Immediately, the rooster Mobian closed the laptop, and he looked at the detectives as he reached in his suit and pulled out a few files, and he placed on the desk. “All the information you need is in these files, along with a disposable cellphone that will make contact directly with me. You can start the investigation as you see better, but I hope an update by the next time I contact you myself by tomorrow on this same time.”

He didn’t even wait for their answer as he grabbed the laptop and looked at them. “Please, don’t make us all regret this.” He turned around the door and walked out unceremoniously, leaving behind silence as the Chaotix looked at the door by which he walked out.

“His girlfriend must be a really luck chick.” Vector said as they looked at the door.

“This was… something…” Espio said, and Vector soon said again:

“Well, you heard guys, we need to start working!” The crocodile walked to his desk and sat, opening the files so he could start to evaluate them, and Charmy was flying right by his side, as he too was looking in the files that would guide their investigations.

Espio took a while to join them, as he was still pondering about this whole situation.

Over the years, he had developed a natural instinct that helped him to sense when a situation was wrong, and this helped him many times during his years before the Chaotix, and years after he became a member.

When it came, it was mostly a feeling than anything, but it helped him sense when a situation was something fishy.

That instinct was working now.

Espio was not able to point exactly what was making him have that sensation now, but he knew that something about the whole situation just _felt_ wrong.

Even as Espion walked to his two teammates, and got himself to help them study the files that were given and how to use it to help them to solve the situation the best way that they could, he still had a very strong feeling that this case would affect all of them, and would affect deeply…


End file.
